Ironhide
Ironhide was the Autobots' resident weapons specialist and Optimus Prime's old friend. He probably had enough replacement parts to build a small army, but Ironhide doggedly refused to roll over and die for anyone. He would fight to the bitter end and take down more than his fair share of Decepticons in the process. nothing was going to stop Ironhide, not even getting stabbed by Crowbar. Ironhide didn't always see optic to optic with Prime, despite their friendship. He was perhaps the more practical of the two, and more than a little trigger happy, so he could be more willing to push the Autobot code to the limit if he thinks it will get the job done faster. Biography That mega-bazooka of his has been with him since he was a proto-chip. During the war, Ironhide ran training missions for the younger Autobot recruits. These missions would often have the recruits thrown into the sharp end: one, involving Signal Flare, Strongarm and Skyblast, abruptly turned into a raid on a Decepticon base and rescuing a prisoner. He also developed skills at resisting psychic interrogation techniques. Even before the war began, Ironhide loved weapons. Nothing made him happier than travelling to some remote asteroid field where he could let loose and blast rocks to his spark's content. Thousands of years ago, with Cybertron's energy reserves dwindling and the Transformer race splintering into warring factions, Ironhide was part of the Thetacons, violent militants who rejected the teachings of Sentinel Prime. He was part of the battle to seize the retrieved AllSpark from Sentinel's band, but when that group used the AllSpark to revitalise Cybertron (proving Sentinel was right all along), the Thetacons lay down their arms. Ironhide did not understand what the Cube was going to be used for if not for subjugation, and Optimus informed him it was to spread "freedom". In gratitude, Ironhide spoke to his commanders about building a temple to house the AllSpark. In the unified Cybertron, Ironhide became a captain in Megatron's Cybertronian Defense Force. He grumbled about working with inexperienced recruits like Starscream and Chromia, though he and Chromia shared a more merciful attitude than the rest of the force towards malcontents opposing Sentinel's new order. He visited Optimus during an archaeological expedition by his Science Division, expressing delight at how they were proving many beliefs Ironhide had deemed invalid after Sentinel proved he was a Prime. Later, when Megatron had usurped leadership of Cybertron with Optimus to become Lord High Protector, Ironhide and commander Starscream were to report to him, but Starscream was late due to an encounter with hostile aliens from the Eshems Nebula. Later, during an attack by the same aliens, Ironhide commanded the ground defense units in the city of Metrotitan, near the Simfur Temple. When Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were pinned down inside the temple, they considered contacting Ironhide for suggestions on what to do. After the aliens were driven out and Megatron assumed his dictatorship of Cybertron, Ironhide found himself belonging to an increasingly violent and unstable military. He was present when Megatron ordered Starscream to conduct some clandestine operation of which Ironhide did not take part in. He and Chromia later saw Optimus Prime and his team leaving after setting up a bomb after defeating Starscream. The disenchanted Ironhide turned his back on the military after Megatron's declared Optimus's followers to be traitors, and that the army now flew under the banner of the Decepticons. Disillusioned with what the military had become, Ironhide wandered far from Trypticon to search for answers, and so preoccupied was his thoughts that he was captured by forces loyal to Optimus Prime in Burthov. Brought before the rebel leader, Ironhide pledged his allegiance to Optimus's Autobots, stating that he had no desire to destroy the innocent, and he knew the Autobots to be innocent of what Megatron charged them with. Besides, they needed somebody with his experience as a soldier. When the Autobots discovered that Megatron was building a massive warship, they thought it would be best to build one of their own, though they lacked the means to do so. Ironhide, however, knew of a fix-er-upper that they could repair in secret. As more gathered to Optimus Prime's cause, a young Autobot named Sideswipe came to train under Ironhide. After Ironhide showed him the ropes, he went on to be assigned to a settlement of displaced Autobots. That assignment went disastrously, as Demolishor massacred the entire settlement, leaving Ironhide's student for dead. Sideswipe returned to the same unit as his former mentor embittered, suffering from survivor's guilt. Noting the new recklessness and ruthlessness that Sideswipe displayed, Ironhide attempted to reach out to his old student. Angrily, Sideswipe declared that he had grown beyond Ironhide's tutelage. He would later be one of three Autobots who tried to prevent Megatron from reaching the AllSpark. They hadn't, however, expected for Brawl to be demented enough to set off a foldspace warhead at pointblank range - a weapon that warped everyone to different parts of the galaxy. After spending some time planet-hopping, Ironhide detected Ratchet's homing signal and headed for it. En route, he was captured by an alien spacecraft, one that appeared to belong to immense entities that created the AllSpark and wanted it back. Ironhide, shrugging off a psychic probe, worked out these entities were an illusion - the ship was a derelict that had been salvaged by a group of aquatic aliens who wanted to find & exploit the AllSpark. Ironhide removed their ability to do so by taking the derelict's device that tracked down AllSpark energy. While he then went on his way, he was left wondering what race had originally owned this vessel and what their connection to the AllSpark was... After meeting up with Ratchet, the two began searching for Jazz. They found he was the prisoner of a living, predatory planet; Ironhide reasoned with the planet to let their friend go (i.e. shot it repeatedly with his slag-off great cannon) and they took him back to Cybertron with them. As the war raged, Sentinel revealed he had constructed a torch that would end the war and prevent more deaths. It required the AllSpark to be activated, and Ironhide led the Autobot charge on Simfur Temple. Elita-One successfully activated the torch and delivered it to Sentinel, who boarded the Ark. The ship arrived at Simfur, but Starscream destroyed it. Ironhide carried Arcee and Chromia off the battlefield during the retreat. A vengeful Optimus led an attack on Megatron's citadel, and Ironhide stood by his side, sustaining heavy damage when he pushed Optimus out of the way of the smelting pool. Optimus entered the citadel to confront Megatron alone, while Starscream and Shockwave attacked Ironhide. Optimus revealed the attack was a distraction from the theft of the AllSpark by Wheeljack's Autobots aboard the second Ark, and opted to rescue his best friend instead of killing Megatron. Optimus claimed they would take the AllSpark aboard the Ark as they left Cybertron, but what he didn't reveal to all but a select few was that they were really going to blast the AllSpark into deep space to both distract the Decepticons and to buy them valuable time. Ironhide was one of those who followed Prime on the Ark to chase after the AllSpark, which, unbeknownst to the Autobots, had locked onto the position of a Star Harvester in a distant star system. During their long search for the AllSpark, the crew of the Ark encountered a strange ship in an abandoned star system. Ironhide identified it as Decepticon, but on second glance wasn't so sure. Though he was all in favor of destroying the mystery craft in case it was a Decepticon trap, Optimus disagreed, believing it to be of alien construction. As Bumblebee followed the ship down to a planet, Ironhide appeared to express concern for his fellow, though he later dismissed this as not wanting their numbers depleted. Ironhide and Jazz backed up Optimus when the Decepticons sprang an attack on them, though Ironhide was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the passive tactics they were employing. He and Jazz ejected Bonecrusher from the Ark's hangar. After the fight, Optimus departed to help Bumblebee, and left Ironhide in charge. During a subsequent Decepticon attack, Ironhide and Jazz employed a new plan wherein Jazz distracted the foe, and Ironhide attempted to approach the Nemesis from a sensor blind-spot. The plan might have succeeded had Starscream not chosen that moment to return from the nearby planet. Jazz was badly damaged as a result, and Ironhide had to work with Ratchet to return them both safely to the Ark. The return of Optimus and Bumblebee meant another battle, and Ironhide was matched up against Bonecrusher. He managed to avoid getting hit for the most part, though he did suffer some damage to his armor. Following the Decepticon retreat, and Optimus's news that Megatron and possibly the AllSpark were located on Earth, Ironhide opined that Starscream would be reluctant to go there because he wanted Megatron to stay lost. Ironhide was one of Optimus Prime's oldest friends, and fought alongside him in the Cybertronian War. Responding to Bumblebee's call for assistance, Ironhide and the other Autobots under Optimus Prime's direct command came to Earth, with the old soldier landing in a suburban pool. As he climbed out of the water, a little human girl asked him if he was the tooth fairy before he quickly hid behind some trees when the child's parents exited the house. He scanned their GMC Topkick truck and transformed, leaving the residence. He linked up with Jazz and Ratchet, and they proceeded to the rendezvous point, where they met up with Optimus and Bumblebee. After meeting Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes, Ironhide displayed an eagerness to show off his cannons, and made a classic Clint Eastwood impression to show it by saying "You feeling lucky, punk?" (which earned him an instant reproof from Optimus). Going to the Witwicky residence, Ironhide was urinated on by Mojo. This unpleasant situation was made worse by Sam Witwicky's frantic refusal to let him shoot Mojo. Ironhide relented, despite the fact that it would cause rust. He also suggested shooting the parents, as they were interfering with Sam's search for Captain Witwicky's glasses. Optimus reminded him that they don't hurt humans and scolded his weapons expert, to which Ironhide meekly responded that he merely thought it should remain an option. After Sam, Mikaela and his parents were captured by Sector Seven, Ironhide and the other Autobots captured the S7 agents by instantly disarming them of their weapons, then rescuing Sam and Mikaela. Unfortunately, their escape was to be short-lived, as Bumblebee was captured by Sector Seven after saving Sam and Mikaela's lives. The next morning, when Optimus Prime was pondering their next move, Ironhide asked why they had to save the humans, prompting Prime to remid him about freedom and sacrifice, concluding that the humans need not pay for the mistakes of Cybertron-kind, and if need be, he would destroy the AllSpark by fusing it with his own spark. Inspired by his words, Ironhide debated no further, and the Autobots set out for the location of the AllSpark, Hoover Dam. Halfway there, to their surprise, they saw Bumblebee leading a column of Sector Seven assault vehicles, so Ironhide and the rest of the Autobots joined the unit. As the Autobots and their human allies made their way to Mission City, Ironhide rammed Barricade into a support pylon on the freeway, putting the Decepticon out of commission. During the final battle at Mission City, Ironhide realized that the F-22 Raptor that appeared to be providing Captain Lennox's troops with air cover was in fact the Decepticon Starscream. Ordering the others to take cover, Ironhide and Bumblebee lifted a discarded truck full of Furby toys to protect the humans against Starscream's strafing run. It worked, but the explosion threw Ironhide back and crippled Bumblebee. Soon afterwards, Brawl attacked, forcing Ironhide to somersault to avoid the Decepticon's missiles. Ironhide and Ratchet took it upon themselves to protect Sam from Starscream and Blackout as he made his way to a rooftop where he could pass the AllSpark to a military helicopter. Unfortunately, Starscream blocked off Sam's path, prompting the Autobot guardians to engage the more powerful Decepticon immediately. After taking several missiles in the gut, Ironhide implored Sam to keep running. After the destruction of Megatron and the AllSpark, Ironhide sombrely cradled the body of the fallen Jazz while Ratchet informed Optimus Prime that there was nothing they could do. Ironhide later rode Captain Lennox home to his wife and baby daughter. In the immediate aftermath of the battle in Mission City, Ironhide accompanied Captain Lennox and his soldiers, hunting for creatures created by the AllSpark energies. They had already destroyed three of the creatures when another one fled into a red minivan, which Lennox's men peppered with small arms fire. Ironhide decided to show them what real firepower was and blew up the van with one shot. As the Autobots prepared to move out and flee the approaching Sector Seven and government forces, Ironhide placed Jazz's remains into a trailer Sergeant Epps had found, and together the soldiers had a moment of silence for their fallen comrade. A month later, after he was approached by Agent Simmons, Lennox requested the Autobots help escort the human convoy transporting the remains of the fallen Decepticons. However, the Autobots had been shadowed on their way to the meeting place by a police car, whom both Lennox and Ironhide guessed was Barricade. Ironhide and the other Autobots arrived at Sector Seven's secret Nevadadesert installation to participate in the convoy that would transport the Decepticon bodies to San Francisco. He disagreed with Optimus Prime's decision to leave the AllSpark fragment in the custody of Sector Seven while they were away, but nevertheless respected his commander's decision. On the freeway, Optimus Prime had a change of heart and sent Ironhide and Bumblebee back to retrieve the AllSpark fragment. Unfortunately, Ironhide, being the slower of the two Autobots, didn't reach the base until after Wreckage and Starscream had caused significant death and destruction. During the cleanup, he could be seen comforting the injured Bumblebee. Following the Mission City battle, he got into another battle with zombieDecepticons. Already injured and exhausted from the last fight, he almost fell before Ratchet found a solution. Amidst the scene of devastation at Sector Seven's Nevada base, Ironhide praised Bumblebee for his courage in attempting to defend the humans, but Bumblebee regretted that he could not save them all. After Jazz's burial two weeks later, Optimus Prime accepted a proposal from Captain Lennox that the humans and the Autobots form a special unit tasked with defending their mutual home. The Autobots began training with their human allies on the island of Diego Garcia, however, the lack of coordination meant even Bumblebee showed up the humans. Ironhide opined that Bumblebee's shot was "awesome". Regardless of some teething issues, the team rolled out when the Decepticon Swindle was spotted in San Francisco. On the plane trip to the city, Ironhide commented on the likelihood of Swindle and Dead End putting up a fight, and how he hated flying. On the safe, stable ground, Lennox gave orders, Ratchet and Epps were assigned to team two, who would set the trap. En route to the Decepticons, Ratchet and Ironhide bantered about how the former's vehicle mode was more suited to NEST's cover story of a chemical spill, while the latter asserted that he was the more stylish of the pair. After the Decepticons were disposed of, Major Lennox and Optimus Prime decided to send Bumblebee back to the United States to once again assume the role of Sam's guardian. Ironhide reminded his little buddy to stay out of trouble, at least until the larger Autobot arrived to take over the protector role. Soon, more Decepticons were spotted on Earth, and Ironhide was deployed to Italy to deal with Fracture's team. After Reverband Gunbarrel had been destroyed, NEST forces led Fracture to Ironhide, who rammed the female Decepticon off the cliff road she was racing upon. Somewhere in the United States, Barricade managed to evade capture or destruction, forcing Ironhide to give Bumblebee warning. Ironhide was reunited with Sideswipe at Diego Garcia after the younger bot had answered Optimus Prime's homing beacon and joined NEST. He found that Sideswipe had changed little, and if anything had become even more of a loose cannon in his pursuit of Demolishor. Unable to reach his former trainee with words, Ironhide was reduced to performing damage control in the skirmish at Buenos Aires, Argentina. However, in the aftermath, Sideswipe saw the destruction he had wrought and the fear it engendered in the humans, begrudgingly admitting that Ironhide had been right all along. After that, he worked with a United States Marine Corps team to track down Scorponok. The Decepticon led them into a trap and took control of Ironhide's motor functions, causing him to attack the humans. They attempted to fight back - oh, you know those sabot rounds that are supposed to harm Transformers? They had no effect. Luckily, one of the soldiers was able to sever Scorponok's connection before he killed them all, and Ironhide killed the Decepticon the old-fashioned way: brutally. Ironhide was later the commanding officer at the NEST base at Edwards Air ForceBase, California. To his intense annoyance, Skids and Mudflap had turned up, claiming to have a message for Optimus Prime and only''him. Since they'd cried wolf before and Optimus was busy on another mission, Ironhide refused. So the twins ''ambushed him with piles of crates so they could reach NEST's ops room and send in a call. Ironhide hurt them for this. He grew more frustrated when, after NEST picked up a Decepticon signal heading for Las Vegas and Ironhide headed up a strike team, the twins pleaded to come along. He bluntly stated they couldn't be trusted not to screw up the way they were going, and if they wanted his trust they'd have to earn it. Once in Las Vegas, Ironhide led his team to capture the Decepticon Grindor. The target used his rotors to blast cars at everyone, knocking Ironhide over, though the human soldiers under Sergeant Dundee completed the mission. Then the twins turned up to earn his trust and show their skills! ...which caused Grindor to be accidentally freed. This time, seeming to notice his way of dealing with the twins wasn't helping matters, Ironhide calmly pointed out that they'd made a mistake, but so does everyone: the trick is to learn from them. He had them sent to be trained by Sideswipe, but didn't act on their claims of important info New Tricks as he still doesn't trust them. Previously... Soon after that, they turned traitor (or so it seemed) and Ironhide worked with Optimus to capture them. When an anonymous tip-off came in that the twins were abducting Sam Witwicky, Ironhide stated that the call seemed dodgy but they couldn't afford to not follow it up. Later, after being alerted to the twins' position and while in a NEST carrier plane, Ironhide (with Sideswipe) watched the fugitives battle the very Decepticons they thought the twins had been aiding and abetting. With the plane unable to land, Ironhide continued to monitor the situation Turnabout and would track the twins to the Decepticons' Phobos base. As a result, the Autobots cleared out a whole nest of drones. Finally realising that the twins had been innocent all along, Ironhide apologised to them and officially welcomed them into the Autobot's Earth division. Ironhide took part in several battles in Polyhex with Optimus Prime during the war. On Earth, he and Optimus later used the same tactics while dealing with a trio of Decepticons who attacked the Nevada Test and Training Range. Also he killed Tracer by shooting the Decepticon in the face. Afterwards, Ironhide wondered if the humans might give them medals, but Optimus revealed that the trio had been communicating with an unidentified third party. Ironhide was annoyed when the humans later kept them out of the loop. Optimus and Ironhide later traveled to Hawthorne Army Depot, where Reverb had uncovered an ancient cache of weapons, including a personal force field. This made it difficult for Ironhide to use his guns on the Decepticon, and even trying to punch Reverb resulted in Ironhide being knocked backwards and being hit by Reverb's sonic cannon. He was too injured to do much for the rest of the battle, though a missile he later fired proved that Reverb's force field had failed. He was back up to fighting strength a month later, and helped Hyperdynamix test their new prototype tank, though he almost lost the battle with it. When Decepticons later attacked Hyperdynamix, he, Optimus and Ratchet went to defend the location, but had trouble locating the Decepticons in question. The game of hide and seek ended for Ironhide when he was sent by helicopter to Battle Mountain to pick up Gears, Bumblebee and Kevin Bowman, who had left the base without permission. To his disappointment, he arrived back at Hyperdynamix to find the three attacking Decepticons had already been finished off. During a visit to Hyperdynamix Aerospace to learn about the HODDIS station intended to track incoming Cybertronians, and the satellite with which Dr. Porter intended to wipe out the Decepticons, incoming meteoroids were detected. Optimus, Ironhide and Ratchet and his team went to the crash site in Idaho, and found themselves having to fight the giant robot centipedes which came out of the meteoroids. Dubbing them "robo-pedes", Ironhide teamed up with Ratchet to take down two of them before they could reach a human town, and had to follow one into a lake to catch it. Two years after the Battle of Mission City, Ironhide acted as an Autobot support unit in Shanghai as NEST hunted for Decepticons. When Major Lennox told him that they had echoes of energy readings, Ironhide assumed robot mode and confirmed that their target was nearby, saying he could smell him. Unfortunately, the Decepticon in question turned out to be Demolishor. Ironhide chased after the massive Decepticon as it roared through the streets before Optimus Prime was deployed from the air and attacked Demolishor, allowing Ironhide to jump on his structure and shoot out his massive wheel, sending him crashing into a warehouse. Ironhide stood with his commander as Optimus prepared to deliver the killing blow, listening to Demolishor's warning about The Fallen's return before he died. Ironhide returned to base, resting in his alternate mode in his hangar while Optimus conferred with William Lennox, General Morshower and Theodore Galloway. Later, Ironhide accompanied the Autobots to rescue Sam Witwicky from Megatron and Starscream, but was too late, for the revived Decepticon leader had killed Optimus in combat. When Ironhide returned to an American air base with Optimus' body, he was surrounded by military forces under Galloway, who had managed to secure NEST's deactivation following multiple Decepticon attacks around the planet. Furious that the humans dared to point a weapon at him, Ironhide almost lost his temper, but Lennox convinced him to not turn on the non-NEST soldiers. Ratchet recommended leaving Earth, but Ironhide argued he believed Optimus would not want them to abandon the humans, apparently becoming leader of the Autobots in the process. During a trip back to Diego Garcia, Ironhide's ship was stopped by Somali pirates. Although the crew could have taken them, they decided to let Ironhide handle it. Transforming into robot mode, Ironhide instructed the pirates to "walk the plank". Most of the pirates opted to instead jump off the ship at running speed. Following reports that Starscream was operating in Zambia, Ironhide accompanied Optimus, Ratchet, Salvage, and Beachbreak to Africa with Captain Lennox, Sergeant Epps, Petr Andronov, and Kaminari Ishihara. They confronted Macerator, Dropkick, and Payload on the Zambezi, where the Decepticons fought in the river, pulling the Autobots downstream. Optimus nearly fell over the falls, but was saved by Beackbreak, at the cost of his life. Ironhide got some payback at a dam down the river, which the Decepticons were trying to destroy. Macerator was killed and Payload swept away when they opened the flood gates rather than allow him to destroy the dam, but Ironhide was forced to let Dropkick escape since he was heading toward the humans. Following this, two separate signals of Decepticon activity were detected, in Peru and the Australian outback. Ironhide accompanied Optimus, Salvage, Lennox, and Kaminara to Australia. As they reached the outback close to dark, they decided to begin searching in the day, with Lennox taking Ironhide's cab, a situation the old Autobot preferred, as he would have turned one of his lesser weapons on Kami's music devices (stop looking at him like that, he wouldn't have hurt her). The next day, Lennox realized that the Decepticons were interested in the two regions because of energy sources, uranium in Australia's case, and Lennox theorized that it might the Decepticons might hope to use the energy to reactivate a depleted Spark. Considering the situation, Ironhide conceded that a spark could be restored via a focused energy blast, but doubted that human resources could do the trick, and the individual in question would be only partially revived at best. Two days later, the NEST team discovered the Constructicons Kickback, Tread, and Trample. Ironhide wailed on Trample for a while before he grabbed Kami, but she used her weapon to disorient him and allow Ironhide to move in for the kill. After their return to Diego Garcia, reports came in of Deadend and Swindle racing around in Rome. Ironhide went along as part of the NEST team, but found himself unable to enter the narrower streets that the two Decepticons were using to get around. Though Knockout managed to deal with the two cars on his own, Starscream arrived and challenged Prime to one-on-one combat. It was a ruse to lure Optimus into a trap, leaving Ironhide, Ratchet and Knockout to fight Starscream themselves. They managed to hold their own against the much larger Decepticon, largely thanks to Ironhide's might, until Optimus got free of the trap and joined them, at which point Starscream fled. moments before the Battle of Egypt]] Ironhide was to retreat with the other Autobots to Diego Garcia until Lennox received a message from Witwicky and his friends to come to Egypt, having figured out the Decepticons' scheme. Lennox managed to trick Galloway into jumping out of the plane carrying the soldiers and Prime's body, while the rest of the Autobots in the second plane quickly cut through the nets containing them. Ironhide then advised the crew to open the doors and let him out of the plane. NEST parachuted into a small village near the Pyramids, but soon lost communication when Starscream released an EMP blast at them. During the defensive operations of NEST's position, Lennox decided to send a team to locate Sam, and Ironhide and Arcee immediately announced that they would lead the team. Transforming to vehicle mode, Ironhide rolled out with a number of soldiers and Arcee. After finding the humans, they were ambushed by several Decepticons, with both Arcee and Ironhide hit numerous times while providing cover fire for their friends, and told Sam and Mikaela to run while they drew their fire. Ironhide survived, albeit heavily damaged, and had to run for his life (ejecting his weapons in the process) when a United States Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber arrived delivering 2000-pound JDAM bombs, obliterating the remaining the Decepticon troops in the area. Momentarily safe, Ironhide and the others witnessed Sam resurrect Optimus Prime with the Matrix of Leadership, and his leader's subsequent defeat of The Fallen. In the years since the defeat of The Fallen in Egypt, and with their human allies closely watching for signs of Decepticon activity, the Autobots have now dedicated themselves to resolving human conflicts, fearing that rogue elements of humanity might spark the sort of global conflicts that devastated Cybertron. Ironhide was part of the team that halted Alice's rampage after the Decepticon stole an RV. He didn't contribute much to the battle, possibly because subtlety was called for. He joined Sideswipe in stopping three Decepticons fleeing a site in Utah. He warned Sideswipe of the possible effects of hubris, and rammed Reverb. After the Fallen's defeat, Ironhide led clean-up operations against the Decepticon stragglers on Earth. In one different mission, he, Ratchet, and William Lennox were investigating strange clearances in Peru alongside Doctor Redway's ecological survey team. They found several statues of Starscream in the jungle, while Ironhide was really eager to burn, but warned them the Decepticon was in the area. Ironhide identified blast damage as being caused by Starscream's Vulcan cannon, but before they could withdraw with the evidence the robot himself attack! Ironhide took him on, using his guns to clear the treeline and then engaging in hand-to-hand combat (and taking some major whacks to the face!), and eventually the Decepticon fled. As open battles were turning humans against the Transformers, Prime and Ironhide oversaw the creation of a secret covert unit that would monitor the Decepticons, wait for windows of opportunity out of the public eye, and then hit hard and fast. Ironhide was quite happy with the unit's performance, not knowing why Optimus was left disquiet about the tactics used.When preparing for an assault on Bludgeon's base, Wheelie offered to help out. Unfotunately, Ironhide made the tragic mistake of declining the offer, as it lead to Wheelie turning on the Autobots. During the battle, Ironhide used himself as a human shield while Optimus and Bumblebee opened fire on Tankor and Dead End. D Sent on a mission with Ratchet, Ironhide confided in his companion that he would rather be on a suicide mission than where they were now—running public relations at an anti-Cybertronian rally outside the Tech Museum of Innovation. After Ratchet's attempts to mollify the crowd failed, Ironhide tried his hand, but only managed to panic them further. Then, Starscream and Barricade arrived, and Ironhide boldly charged at them. Though he deftly disabled Barricade, Starscream threw a tanker truck at Ratchet and the humans. Ironhide body-slammed it out of the way and was promptly caught in the explosion. As the Decepticons prepared to finish him off, they were besieged by the protesters, who were now adamantly pro-Autobot. He was later well enough to request one of Castor's anti-Decepticon T-shirts. When Dirt Boss seemed to surrender, Ironhide prevented Sideswipe from doing anything fatal to the Decepticon so they could have an interrogation, but Dirt Boss's surrender was merely to allow time for Soundwave to attack. Ironhide was pounced on by Ravage and then shot at by Soundwave, but luckily Optimus chose that point to come to their rescue and Soundwave was captured. Ironhide began preparing an old nuclear shelter in Texas to house Soundwave, though he was sceptical that the Decepticon would reach it. As it turned out, he was right, and Soundwave escaped en route. When he heard Galloway was under Decepticon attack, Ironhide put forward the opinion that the man was a "pain in the aft", but Optimus reminded him they should still help. Soundwave led the Autobots to the location of the Initiative base in California, but it was gone. Ironhide figured that it must have had something to do with the recent mysterious activities. Soundwave's research relocated the base in Utah, so the Autobots drove there and attacked, only to find themselves facing brainwashed Transformers. He and Ratchet fought on, ramming a bunch of the foe in their vehicle modes. They felt the effects when Carter Newell attempted to destroy all Cybertronian life on the planet using the AllSpark constructed by the Initiative, however the battle turned in the Autobots' favor and they eventually triumphed. Ironhide was part of a human-Autobot joint strike team that took out a group of Decepticons dealing weapons to Earth's human populace. When Divebomb attempted to use Lennox, Galloway and another NEST soldier as a hostage to extricate himself from the situation, Ironhide blew a hole through the Decepticon, telling him not to threaten humans. This display of power was enough to make the remaining Decepticon, Fearswoop, surrender unconditionally. Ironhide escorted Fearswoop back to NEST headquarters, keeping his cannons locked on the 'con at all times. When Sam called in that he was being attacked by a group of Decepticons, after the Brain Unit that he had stumbled onto, Ironhide was deployed to help with the situation. Ironhides group arrived in Philadelphia just in time to rescue Sam from being killed by Starscream's hand. But Ironhide noticed something odd about the battle. The Decepticons weren't fighting back, merely trying to make their getaway. The battle had turned out to be a diversion orchestrated by Shockwave in order to get to several Autobot refugees left behind at the NEST headquarters. Shockwave himself soon joined the battle, turning the tide in the Decepticons' favour. The Autobots managed to send Shockwave fleeing with his pet Driller, but only just barely. Shortly after returning to the NEST facility from a mission to capture an illegal nuclear power plant, Ironhide was inspecting a new weapon that Que had created when NSA Director Charlotte Mearing arrived to speak with Optimus Prime. However, Ironhide and Dino let the human know that the Autobot leader was in a foul mood, believing that the US government had lied to the Autobots about disclosing all of their knowledge about the Cybertronians, given the discovery of an engine fuel cell from the long-lost Ark at Chernobyl. Mearing professed that she had not had clearance to this information until now, and introduced the Autobots to NASA administrators and famed Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who explained the truth about their mission to the Moon was to explore the wreck of the Ark, and how they suspected that the Soviet Union had been trying to generate fissionable power with the fuel cell. After Sentinel Prime had been rescued from the wreck of the Ark and brought back to Earth, Ironhide rushed into the chamber where he had been reactivated by the Matrix of Leadership after hearing of a commotion. After Sentinel realized that he was among friends, Ironhide witnessed him explain how his pillars were key to activating his space bridge, a teleportation device that was crucial to the Autobot war effort. Soon, Sam Witwicky discovered that the Decepticons had stolen hundreds of pillars from the Ark decades earlier, and were now after Sentinel Prime and the remaining five pillars he possessed to utilize the space bridge. As Sentinel, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Dino neared the NEST base, Ironhide moved out to intercept their Decepticon pursuers, the Dreads. After colliding head on with Crankcase and Crowbar, Ironhide and Sideswipe forced the Decepticons to drop their weapons after a tense "Mexican standoff". However, they deployed hidden spears, managing to hit Ironhide in the shoulder with one before recommencing their attack. The veteran Autobot caught a blaster tossed by Sideswipe to shoot Crowbar in the face, before pulling the spear out of his shoulder, impaling it into Crankcase's face, slamming the Decepticon into an abandoned car and kicking the wreckage into a nearby auto shop, which exploded. Arriving at the NEST base, Ironhide assured Sam and Colonel Lennox that he would protect Sentinel Prime from the Decepticons. However, the former Autobot leader had other ideas, explaining that he knew that they would never win the war, and to save Cybertron from destruction, a deal was made with Megatron. Before anybody could react, Sentinel blasted Ironhide in the back with his hidden cosmic rust cannon. Succumbing to the effects of the rust as it spread, Ironhide weakly demanded to know what Sentinel had done, but the Prime callously stated that he was merely "discharging" the soldier from duty, and then fired a second blast directly at Ironhides chest, sending more rust spreading across the Autobots body. As Sentinel disappeared into the NEST base to retrieve his pillars, The Rust spread, causing Ironhide to die, as he fell apart, turning to dust from the rust. Optimus avenged him with the death of Sentinel Prime. Five years after the Battle of Chicago, Ironhide was listed as "deceased" by the CIA taskforce "Cemetery Wind". :This article uses material from the Transformers Wiki and Teletraan I. Category:Transformers Category:2007 characters Category:Revenge of the Fallen characters Category:Dark of the Moon characters Category:Autobots Category:Deceased characters Category:N.E.S.T. 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